Lovers of Lowell's Beat author give 'On The Road' mixed reviews

Jack Kerouac's literary masterpiece has finally made it to the big screen -- and plenty of people from his hometown were there to witness it.

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac, a nonprofit organization which promotes the life and literature of Lowell's most famous author, shuttled a large group of Kerouac lovers to Boston Monday night for an advanced screening of the new movie version of On The Road.

The group met at the White Eagle Cafe in Lowell in the early evening before taking carpools (and, for some lucky ones, a limousine) to the AMC Boston Common theater.

"We had at least 50," said Mike Wurm, president of Lowell Celebrates Kerouac. "Poets, professors, just a lot of different people.

Jack Kerouac fans gather at the White Eagle Cafe Monday on Market Street in Lowell before heading to Boston for a sneak preview of On the Road. Heading to the show were Lowell's George Koumentzelis, center left, and Roger Brunelle, right, among others. sun/Bob Whitaker

Directed by Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries), On The Road follows the cross-country travels of young aspiring writer Sal Paradise, Kerouac's alter ego, played by Sam Riley. Sal meets Dean Moriarty (a stand-in for Kerouac's lecherous friend, Neal Cassady, played by Garrett Hedlund), and together they embark on a journey involving other Beat icons like Allen Ginsberg (Tom Sturridge) and William Burroughs (Viggo Mortensen), as well as Dean's wives, Marylou (Kristen Stewart) and Camille (Kirsten Dunst).

On the Road is the first film adaptation of Kerouac's 1957 Beat Generation classic. It screened at Cannes Film Festival last May and had a limited release in New York in December, but it won't come out in the Boston area until March 22, when it opens at Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge.

Advertisement

"It looks like they're scared of the box office, and the early reviews seem to have made them timid," Wurm said of the film's release strategy.

Critical reaction to the film has been mixed, despite a star-studded cast that also includes Amy Adams, Steve Buscemi and Elisabeth Moss. According to review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, only 45 percent of reviews have been positive. Some LCK members at the screening shared the same middling reaction.

"The jury's still out on it," said Pete Eliopolous, director of the annual Jack Kerouac 5K Road Race in Lowell.

"Being a huge fan of Kerouac, you have a perception of what you think it's going to be, and it wasn't. I think I liked it, but I'm not sure."

"I'd give it a C," said Jay McHale, a professor at Salem State University. "It started out great but they took out a few important things from the book."

McHale pointed to the absence of the New Year's Eve speech by Carlo Marx (Ginsberg) and the lack of Moriarty's third wife as a failure of the movie. He, like some of the other viewers, commended the film's technical aspects and acting, but ultimately felt that the film didn't quite do the book justice.

"I liked the film in terms of the cinematography, the point of view and the acting," said Lowell historian Bill Walsh. "But there wasn't enough about Kerouac's spirituality and poetry, or about the role of jazz in his writing."

The film's frank portrayal of Kerouac and Cassady's drug-and-alcohol-fueled sexual adventures was also a point of conversation. The viewers weren't turned off by the explicit content, but they did think the film's emphasis on it may have detracted from Kerouac's original story.

"They really stressed too much of the hedonism," said Walsh. "If people aren't familiar with the book, they're probably saying, 'What's so great about this (lifestyle)? No wonder these guys died so young.' You can't see what Kerouac thought about Neal Cassady that was so great."

But not everybody was disappointed. Wurm said he had many people come up to him after the movie to praise the film, telling him that the movie totally captured the distinct Kerouac mystique of On The Road, and adding that some of the inevitable criticisms would be nitpicky at best.

"Sure, it's fun to argue the movie," said Wurm. "It reawakens us to the true greatness of the book and (shows) why any movie of it will always fall short. But I thought it was pretty faithful to the spirit of the book."

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sun. So keep it civil.

ODESSA, Texas (AP) — A West Texas man has been charged with impersonating an officer by using sirens and flashing lights to skip to the head of the drive-thru line at a fast-food restaurant. Full Story

Sufjan Stevens, "Carrie & Lowell" (Asthmatic Kitty) Plucked strings and pulsing keyboards dominate the distinctive arrangements on Sufjan Stevens' latest album, and in the absence of a rhythm section, they serve to keep time. Full Story